The other day, I went to Sam's Club with my mother and my sister. I only went because there's a Barnes and Noble out there and they had a few books I wanted (one wasn't actually there even though it said they had a copy, but whatever; I got one, and that's good enough for now). So we stopped in at Sam's Club because my mother needed something.
For those who are unfamiliar with Sam's Club, it's a huge concrete building with no windows and loads of fluorescent lights. You can buy things in bulk if you're a member (the membership fee is outrageous [in my less-than-humble opinion] and I hope never to hold a membership card to that establishment). It's owned by Walmart, an evil company that may very well be singlehandedly destroying the lives of millions of people worldwide (funny then that their slogan is "Live better." Oh yes, you may live better, but what of the children in the sweatshops? The underpaid employees? Think of them the next time you buy a twenty-dollar DVD player or some such that's far cheaper than it ought to be).
So, getting back to my original point, Sam's Club: sells things in bulk, or for cheaper than they should be; requires membership. As we were on our way to the register, we passed the clothing and my mother stopped to look for a pair of shorts for my father. As we were looking through the mound of identical pairs of shorts, I noted that the smallest men's size they carried was a 34. Ok, but that's about what my father wears... it's not exactly small. Then we turned and started looking at some cool women's plaid shorts. Would I have gotten them if they had my size? Maybe; but only if my mother was buying. As I looked through these, I noted again that their smallest size was not that small: an 8. I thought on this before looking at the other customers around me. Odd, they all seemed slightly larger than the "ideal" for humans (Disclaimer: there is nothing wrong with having extra weight so long as it is not due to neglect for what you are eating and so long as you are not hurting yourself... actually, scratch that. Your life; hurt yourself as much as you want without killing yourself or harming others and I won't get angry. Oh, and if you do have a little extra fat, could I borrow it? I have weight problems of a different variety and I'd like to go to the doctor's office without being threatened with an IV). Anyways, I made a little mental connection: food in bulk, an unhealthy, nearly un-consumable amount, is somehow being purchased and, one can naturally assume, eaten; clothing which is tailored to a larger body in the same store carrying said food... coincidence? I don't think so. I came to the conclusion that you may shop at your leisure and purchase and consume and then stop by and get some larger clothes on the way out (seriously, there was a pair of pants that could have fit at least five or six of me in them). Frightening? Yes. Shocking? No.
And that's why it scared me. I should have been shocked and mortified by the downfall of my fellow man, by the rampant health problems related to obesity, but I wasn't. I simply didn't care and instead found myself disgusted with the people rather than the system; after all, it is their vigorous consumption and waste that plagues the nation if not the world. And so today, on the Fourth of July, the day my country won it's independence, I'm feeling particularly anti-capitalist and anti-American.
So please, before you join the herd in doing what is accepted if not expected of you, consider the consequences and the bigger picture, keeping in mind that your actions affect much more than you know.

Live free, LIVE EVIL
~H-T (Emma)